Problems in reading Gibbon

With strong interesting both in his words as well as his ideas, I, a Chinese with poor level of English, start my reading of Gibbon. I find there are so many obstacles in my work, that it is almost impossible for me to catch the meaning of his words thoroughly. In order make a sound understanding, I will present my problems here for helping.
The following are met now, and others that found before will be continued afterward.
Ps. If there are something wrong in my words (I think there are must be), please point them out frankly.

1. In his words concerning the number of slave (in chapter 2), Gibbon says, “the proportion of slaves, who were valued as property, was more considerable than that of servants, who can be computed only as an expense.” “only as an expense” —— what does the word “as”mean? I need explain and paraphrase.
2. In the same paragraph, the author says, “The same number of four hundred belonged to an estate which an African widow, of a very private condition, resigned to her son, whilst ……”What is “a very private condition”? Explain and paraphrase is also needed.
3. It is well known that there are numerous footnotes in this book, which cites a lot of classical works. Of the figure and symbol used in denoting the original, I don’t know what they stand for. For example, “Valerius Maximus, l. ii. c. 2, n. 2.”, I know the letter “c”might stand for “chapter”, but what about the rest? Another one, for instance, “Dion Cassius, lib. lxviii. p. 1131”,undoubtedly, the letter “p”means “page”, what about “lib” and “lxviii” then?

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Originally Posted by Brahms

With strong interesting both in his words as well as his ideas, I, a Chinese with poor level of English, start my reading of Gibbon. I find there are so many obstacles in my work, that it is almost impossible for me to catch the meaning of his words thoroughly. In order make a sound understanding, I will present my problems here for helping.
The following are met now, and others that found before will be continued afterward.
Ps. If there are something wrong in my words (I think there are must be), please point them out frankly.

1. In his words concerning the number of slave (in chapter 2), Gibbon says, “the proportion of slaves, who were valued as property, was more considerable than that of servants, who can be computed only as an expense.” “only as an expense” —— what does the word “as”mean? I need explain and paraphrase.
2. In the same paragraph, the author says, “The same number of four hundred belonged to an estate which an African widow, of a very private condition, resigned to her son, whilst ……”What is “a very private condition”? Explain and paraphrase is also needed.
3. It is well known that there are numerous footnotes in this book, which cites a lot of classical works. Of the figure and symbol used in denoting the original, I don’t know what they stand for. For example, “Valerius Maximus, l. ii. c. 2, n. 2.”, I know the letter “c”might stand for “chapter”, but what about the rest? Another one, for instance, “Dion Cassius, lib. lxviii. p. 1131”,undoubtedly, the letter “p”means “page”, what about “lib” and “lxviii” then?

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It means you own your slave, therefore you treat it as an extension of the self (The same way one may clean one's car, or take care of one's house) whereas the servant is paid, therefore there is no question of taking care of it - the relationship is purely financial. As here functions like the Chinese 以。。。。。。为。。。。。。。 so like 此时贵族思想以主人与佣人之关系视为一个费钱的事儿。The bulk of the work undoubtedly must have been done by slaves, as Gibbons is suggesting slaves are far more numerous than servants, therefore the cost factor of the servants is an expense on the estate - the slaves have "willed" to her son as property, therefore are not an expense, as they are like cattle.

As for the notation. These are Roman numerals referring to page numbers, you can read all about them on wikipedia.org - these numbers would have been commonly used for mathematical equations all the way to the enlightenment, and are still often used to denote years, or page numbers of specific works (generally most prefaces and contents and sometimes appendices will be written numerated using Roman numerals). It's best just to learn them as it takes about 10 minutes of practice to get the trick to them, and you won't need to bother learning how to calculate with them (which is trickier for doing more complex mathematics).

Thanks for your reply!
Obviously, the phrase "a very private condition" is used to describe the widow, but what does it mean?
As for the Roman numerals, I just want to know what does they stand for. In the footnote mentioned above, if the first number "l" suggests volume, what about the second "ii" mean then? However, I'll refer to wikipedia for more information.

It means she is not public with her personality - she does not show off, or is not public with her wealth. I would assume anyway, you only gave me a fragment.

In general in context with servants and slaves, Servants are a luxury item by this analysis, therefore a public person, one with an outside reputation, such as a male politician, would be required to have more of them.

Yes, I see!
The main idea of this paragraph is that there are numerous slave at that time. Even an obscure one can possesse so many slaves, let alone the others who are famous.

"a very private condition"

This might also mean she was pregnant, possibly illegitimately.

I'm just guessing, as this may be a different way of saying a woman is "in a delicate condition", which is to mean she is pregnant.

In the note 69 of chapter X,who was the geographer of Ravenna mentioned here, and what is the work cited by the author? (he must be great and his work a big one, I suppose)
The original is :The Geographer of Ravenna, i. II, by mentioning Mauringania on the confines of Denmark, as the ancient seat of the Franks, gave birth to an ingenious system of Leibnitz.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decl...chap10.htm#CNF

Reading Gibbon! Are you administering this punishment to yourself or is it someone else who is making you do this. If I was you (common but impossible colloquialism) I'd seek a slightly easier way to improve my English literacy. (NB I have nothing against Gibbon but reading him with your present level of literacy is putting the proverbial cart before the horse). Or are you reading him for some other reason. Mr JBI I'm sure will help you but you (and he if he was to answer all your inevitable questions) will find it a very tiring experience.